What To Bet On : The Importance Of Picking Your Betting Markets

Written By: Mike Lovatt
Last Updated: October 14, 2022

In our earlier beginner’s betting guides, we focused on what mindset is required to win at sports betting, and how finding value in your picks is the key to be profitable from placing bets. In this guide we cover how certain betting markets have better odds than others, and why it is better to specialise in some of the basic and traditional markets on offer.

With all these things shaping up nicely in your head, you are surely wondering what you should bet on and this too is a concept to be carefully considered. Most bookmakers will offer dozens of betting markets, especially when for big matches and major European football leagues, but one must be careful in the choice of bets they make.

Of course, not every bettor can be an expert in the same sport but the fact is that most European bettors who are successful bet either football or horse races, and these are two very profitable sports to bet. Choosing the right market to bet within those sports, however, is a whole other story.

What Markets Should I Choose?

There is a number of betting markets offered in football betting, including the likes of double chance and both teams to score, but the fact is most successful bettors bet on straight win, goal line or Asian handicaps as these three markets are believed to be most easy to take advantage of.

Straight win betting is pretty self-explanatory. The bettor gets three options, betting on home or away win or a draw, winning the bet if their choice turns out to be right. The big mistake bettors often make is betting the favorites at very low odds and this is simply not a strategy that will show dividends over time. If you plan to bet winners, you will want to find games where the odds are relatively even but you have information that suggests one team as the favorite.

Over 2.5 Goals/Under 2.5 Goals is another commonly bet market among the professional bettors as it is a market where long-term statistics of the teams and the league can play a significant factor, allowing for much statistical analysis to be done and plenty of edge to be had, especially if you are patient enough to analyze some of the smaller leagues.

The Both Teams To Score market is another popular market among some professional bettors and while it may not be very profitable at all in the major leagues where the stats are broken down very well by the bookies, the odds may be quite favorable for the bettors in some lesser leagues matches. For instance, scouring Dutch, Belgian or South American leagues for solid both teams to score opportunities has shown very profitable for tons of professionals.

The Asian Markets

In recent years most of the online bookies have introduced the Asian Handicap betting, which is also one of the most commonly bet markets among the professional bettors today. Asian Handicap is the type of betting where teams are brought closer to level by adding a number of goals to the final score before the match has even started. For instance, if the champions are playing the team set for relegation, the other team might “start” the match 2 goals ahead for the purposes of this bet.

The most basic Asian Handicap is 0. When there is a 0 Asian Handicap in play, your bets will win if your choice wins, they will lose if your team loses and your bets will be refunded when the match finishes in a draw. In this scenario, the drawn matches are completely left out and you can simply bet if a team will win or not.

Further Asian Handicap bets include +0.25 where you lose half of your stake if the match is a draw and you lose your entire stake if your pick loses, +0.50 where you only win if your pick wins and you lose in all other instances, +0.75 where you win the full amount if your team wins by 2 goals or more and win half the amount if they win by 1 etc.

Asian Handicap betting allows players to bet in a much more versatile way, predicting the outcome of the match with more precision while also protecting themselves in a way against some of the negative outcomes.

The real reason why so many professionals like to bet Asian Handicaps is because the bookies tend to pay out higher on these bets, making the odds better and making the bookie easier to beat. Basically in many cases it will be more profitable to bet Home Team +0 than Home Team on the 1×2 market, even though it is actually the absolute same bet.

The lower margins that bookies charge on Asian Handicap markets make these markets very popular among the serious bettors, while most casual punters will still place their money with the market they know better, thus losing out on the edge just by not being curious enough.

Conclusion : Choose Your Market Carefully

With so many bookies offering the different markets out there, I have seen instances where the same bet is offered in two different ways at two different bookies with quite different odds. This is why you as a professional bettor will need to train a keen eye and learn how to recognize such situations and capitalize on them the most.

It is crucial to keep in mind that picking the right market to bet and staying focused on that market, regularly doing research and improving your understanding of the market is what will bring you the most profits in the long run. As with all other things, it is important to specialize and become a master of your market, so you are able to utilize every slight edge that appears within it.

Mike Lovatt

Mike has over 14 years of experience with online sports betting, having used countless online betting sites. Mike previously provided football betting tips on goals and corners in Facebook groups before starting his own betting website. A huge football fan, Mike has been writing betting guides and football betting advice for years.

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